The Ring
by LoveandLearn
Summary: Who would have ever thought the engagment ring would have such a big impact of the marriage?


Derek stood outside the door of his mother's house nervously. He took a deep breath before opening it and going in. The house was dimly lit and it was oddly quiet. He wandered around, checking every inch of the first floor for a sign of life. Finally he gave up and called, "Mom!" as loudly as he could.

A few seconds later he heard her reply. "Derek?" she asked, standing at the top of the stair case. She walked down with a basket of laundry in her arms and set it down somewhere to take her son into her arms. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since Christmas. You don't even bother to call anymore." she complained. It was the usually complaint, made my every mother after their child begins to live a life of their own.

"I'm sorry, with school and everything I've been really busy. I barely have time for anything but I really needed to come here and see you for something. Are you busy?"

"No. Just laundry. Wanted to get it done before Kathleen brought her kids over. I have to babysit them for the weekend. She's going on some weekend Valentine's getaway with her husband."

"Valentines day...that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." Derek began. "You remember Addie, right?" he asked.

"The girl you brought to Christmas. I've been meaning to talk to you about her." Carolyn answered. "She's different from the girls you dated in high school. She's so much more different than anymore I've ever met, Derek. It's like she's from a whole separate world."

"Exactly! She is, she's not like anyone I've ever met. She is in her own world where everything has to be perfect and life has to be like a dream. She's like a fantasy, she's...everything. She's perfect." he answered. "That's what you meant right?"

"I umm..." she hesitated, unsure of where Derek wanted this conversation to go. So she took the safe route and asked, "Why are you here, Derek? You came to ask me what I think of her?"

"I came to ask you for the ring." her son answered, much to her horror. "Dad always said he wanted me to use that ring when I find the right person. And Addie is it, she's the one. I'm gonna ask her to marry me on Valentines day. I know it's cliche but it's romantic and I know she'll love that."

"You're proposing to Addison?" Carolyn responded. "Derek, she's...she's not the one. You were here on Christmas, you saw how she was. She didn't belong in this family, sweetheart. I didn't want to say anything, I thought you'd realize that. But now you wanna marry her? You have to reconsider, Derek. Please, think about this. You're only 24. You don't need to move this quickly. There are so many woman out there who would be so much better for you."

"What are you talking about, Mom? I was here, and I did see her." Derek agreed. "The kids _loved _her. They wouldn't leave her alone. Nancy and Kathleen loved her, they come and visit every chance they get. They're the ones who are encouraging me to do this. And you're telling me she doesn't fit? You can't be serious."

"How long have you known her, Derek?"

"A year." he answered automatically.

"You've known her for a year. I've known you for 24. I want the best for you and that's not her, honey. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you that. But better accept that now than wake up in 20 years and find yourself in a miserable marriage. You're from two different worlds. You have to accept that."

"I love her." he admitted. "I've never felt like this about anyone, Mom. I would rather die than live without her. She's everything to me. I wanna marry her, I wanna be with her forever, I want her to be the mother of my children. I want her to be the last person I see every night and the first person I see every morning. I want her." Derek explained. He'd go further in detail but this was his mother and there were something she didn't need to know about.

"You've only known her for a year. How could you feel like that about her?"

"Are you going to give me the ring or not?" he asked, cutting to the chase. "Because if you're not than I need to go. I have to find a jewerly store before they all close so I can find her the perfect ring."

"You're in medical school, you don't have a job. You can't afford to by the perfect ring for her. She's used to big shiny diamonds, the kind most people only dream about. You can't give her that. You have no money."

"I have a credit card, and even if I have to pay for that ring every month until I turn 300 I'm going to give the perfect ring.." he answered.

"I'm sorry, Derek. I can't give you the ring." Carolyn replied. "If you marry her, I'll smile and pretend to love her but I'll never see her as a part of this family. I'm sorry. And that ring is meant to stay in this family."

"Fine." he answered, dropping his gaze to the ground. He nodded in disappointment, pretending to understand where she's coming from but he quickly turned away and left.

3 hours later he found himself in New York, in a Jewlerly store that he never thought he'd even consider driving by. He was staring at a glass case containing rings he knew he couldn't afford but there it was...the one ring that screamed 'Addison.' After going to 9 different stores and looking at about 400 hundred ring, he knew this one was the right one. He knew it the second he saw it. Without hesitation he bought it, charged it to his credit card and stuffed the small black box in the pocket of his pants.

The next night, the night of Valentines day he proposed to her on top of the Empire State building and she said yes. They got married two years later, right after graduation. They lived the fantasy for almost 10 years but then his mother's predication came true. They realized that they weren't meant for one another. They were from two separate worlds and there was no middle ground. There was no way either could understand the other's dream for eternity. They grew apart, Derek dedicated himself to the one thing he knew he would always have, his career. And Addison drifted from one day to next, hoping the day would come that her husband would remember why he married her in the first place...but that day never came and she gave up waiting for it.

Now two years later there marriage was far from perfect. They lived across the country, in a trailer smaller than Addison's closet had been in New York. And on this particular day they both knew there would be more tomorrow for them. Derek walked into the trailer and saw Addison sitting on the bed, his suit jacket gracing her slender frame and a pair of black panties in her hands. She wore no expression, only pain was visible in her eyes. The kind she could never explain to anyone but Derek knew exactly how she felt. It was the same look on his face when he walked in on Addison and Mark, the exact same look.

She looked up from the article of clothing but didn't say a word. To be honest she wasn't even sure she remember enough words to tie together to form a logical sentence. And sadly, neither could he. He wouldn't have even know what to say. She set the panties aside, looking up into her husband's eyes. "I guess your mother was right." she whispered, getting up off the bed and taking the suit jacket off of herself. She didn't want to see it. She didn't want to be wearing it.

"What?" Derek asked, pretending to have no idea what she was talking about. "Right about what?"

"Me." Addison answered. "I was never right for you. I could never be right for. We are from two separate worlds and no matter what I did, what I gave up, you'd never see me as a part of your family. What you felt toward me...that wasn't love, it was lust and your mother saw that. Had you loved me, loved me as much I love you we wouldn't be here. Our marriage wouldn't have reached this point, you'd never let me get away with not having your children, you'd never leave me alone for a single night. Had you loved me...your mother would have give you that ring."

"You knew about the ring?"

"I've always known about the ring. But I never understood why she didn't give it to you, I understand that now. She knew. And I know that she gave it to you to give to me for our tenth anniversary...even when you had the ring, you didn't give it to me. Possibly because that's when you realized she was right, that's when you went missing, when this became a marriage with only one person in it." she explained sadly. "I just wished she would have told me. It would have saved me so much pain. I would have stopped fighting a long time ago, I wouldn't have come out here after you, I wouldn't have broken your heart by sleeping with Mark. I would have left before any of this could have happened."

"So what now?" he asked, knowing there was nothing he could say to work himself out of this mess.

"Nothing." she answered. "Now comes the point where I go back to New York and start over. You can move on with your life. And I hope one day you find someone who you think deserves that ring."

"What about you?"

"Derek, I doubt my own parents love me, okay? If I depended on someone's love to live I would have died years ago." Addison replied. "The only thing I need you to do is tell me that I didn't waste the last 14 years of my life with you. That's all I need to hear, that at one moment, even if it was only for two seconds you thought that one day you could possibly get over the lust and love me for who I am."

"I always hope that one day I'd reach that point." he assured. "And you can't give up now."

"I waited for 12 years, Derek. I've patiently waited, knowing the whole time that my suspicion was true. And I knew that every 'I love you' was fake. It was meant to be, 'I love fucking you'. So how much longer should I wait? I'm almost 40, Derek. You think I have anymore time left to dedicate to this marriage?"

She twisted the rings off her finger and placed them at the edge of the table in the cramped trailer. "But even if she had given me the ring, I'd never walk away and take that from you." She wasn't even willing to keep the ring she had ended up getting. She grabbed her purse from the chair she had left it on and turned to Derek for one last thought. "I just never realized how big an impact the engagement ring has on the marriage."

Hours had gone by, Addison's car long gone from the spot it usually occupied in front the trailer. All her stuff was still there but he knew she wasn't coming back. Her passport was gone, that's the only thing she needed. In it's place were signed divorce papers. She knew he'd check to see if she'd taken it, she knew that if he saw it gone he'd know she was never coming back. He sat there at the table, the pen was held captive in the tight grip of his right had but his eyes were on the rings. He watched as the light would reflect off the diamonds and shine onto the wall, making the room seem brighter than it really was.

He finally signed the papers a week later. He had to wait, wish that she just might come back. But at some point he knew it was too much to ask for. The second his lawyer told him his divorce was final he knew he had to do something destructive. So that night he sat out on the porch of his trailer, the ring was set on the remaining bark of a tree that had been cut down. He held a mallet in his hand and beat it down onto the ring that was meant for 'the one'. He beat down onto it until it was reduced to nothing but a collection of fine powder. And after a light gust of wind, not even that was there anymore. He torched the platinum setting it was on, melting down into a useless liquid. That was destructive enough.

If he had gotten that ring when he first asked for it maybe it would still exist. He would never doubt his feelings toward Addison. She would have mothered his children, she would be there every day the rest of his life. The ring would be on her finger instead of being destroyed beyond repair. Had he gotten that ring when he first asked for it, things may have ended differently for him.

If Addison couldn't have the ring, no one should. If Addison wasn't the one, than there was no one out there who could be. That he could never doubt.

* * *

Yes...I did somehow manage to come up with another pointless Addek one-shot. I don't know how it crossed my mind but it didn't and I had to write it down and post it. What did you guys think?  
Oh, for those of you reading Heart of Stone, I promise I worked on both simultaneously. This didn't get in the way of that. You'll get the next chapter of that very soon.


End file.
